

I appreciated the engaging way descriptive detail was woven into the early sentences of the book, though some of this seemed to fall away in later chapters. Given the simplistic plot, lack of world building, and nearly non-existent character development, one would expect the pace of the book to be agonizingly slow, but Tahir’s present tense writing is clear and concise, which helped to push the narrative along.

The little pieces like this that Tahir included in her narrative really made me stop and consider what I was reading and why Helene’s story line had put her in the place that it did. Helene exists in a situation that where she is prompted to believe that “I am alone, but for ghosts,” which, as a reader, I found quite interesting. She was the only character whom I felt added any color or interest to the story. Helene, on the other hand, agonizes over her murderous mission and how the politics involved in it affect her family. During this lengthy period absent of any noticeable plot, only one of the characters, Helene, undergoes much of change, while Laia and Elias remain flat and static in their characterization: Laia thinks about how she can help others, and Elias mentally torments himself about his gory past. Months are spent planning, waiting, and slogging through the rocky desert. The book proposes a grueling pace with its race against time, yet it moves very slowly.
#A torch against the night book summary free
Elias, meanwhile, only wishes to be free of a life of blood and death and murder, but is bound by his vow to help Laia. On one side of the story, Helene means to settle the Empire by killing Elias in a show of strength, while on the other, Laia hopes to free the Scholars using the secrets that only Darin knows. Tensions between the Martial citizens and their Scholar slaves have come to a head in this second installment in the fantasy series, An Ember in the Ashes.
#A torch against the night book summary full
Laia, Elias, and Helene take turns narrating A Torch Against the Night, steering the reader through the rioting, burning streets of the besieged Martial Empire, navigating a black market full of criminals, traipsing slowly north through the desert, and skirting the torture chambers and mass graves of Kauf prison. Wanted fugitives Elias Veturius and Laia of Serra have but one goal―to recuse Laia’s brother, Darin, from the “notorious Martial prison,” Kauf.Īnd Elias’s childhood friend, Helene, has exactly one objective―to kill the traitor to the Martial Empire, Elias Veturius. A Torch Against the Night ’s setting, the desert underfoot, may as well be sand through an hourglass, for time is quickly running out.
